JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 9 

 boy, thou art now safe. I have brought 

 thee here that I may be able to pay con- 

 stant attention to thy studies ; thou 

 shalt have ample time for pleasures, 

 but the remainder must be employed 

 with industry and care." 



But the father soon left him on some 

 foreign mission for his government and 

 the boy chafed as usual under his tasks 

 and confinement. One day, too much 

 mathematics drove him into making his 

 escape by leaping from the window, and 

 making off through the gardens attached 

 to the school where he was confined. A 

 watchful corporal soon overhauled him, 

 however, and brought him back, where 

 he was confined on board some sort of 

 prison ship in the harbour. His father 

 soon returned, when he was released, not 

 without a severe reprimand. 



We next find him again in the city of 

 Nantes struggling with more odious 

 mathematics, and spending all his leis- 

 ure time in the fields and woods, study- 



